Esapekka Lappi

Esapekka Lappi (born 17 January 1991) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2012 Finnish Rally Champion, 2014 European Rally Champion and the 2016 WRC-2 Champion. He is currently competing for M-Sport Ford WRT in the World Rally Championship.

Esapekka Lappi
Lappi at the 2019 Rally Mexico
Personal information
Nationality Finnish
Born (1991-01-17) 17 January 1991
Pieksämäki, Finland
World Rally Championship record
Active years2011–2013, 2015–present
Co-driver Janne Ferm
TeamsŠkoda, Toyota, Citroën, M-Sport
Rallies58
Championships0
Rally wins1
Podiums7
Stage wins41
Total points316
First rally2011 Rally Finland
First win2017 Rally Finland

Career

2012

Lappi won the 2012 Finnish Rally Championship with Ford Fiesta S2000 winning all the 7 rounds of the championship with his co-driver Janne Ferm.[1]

In October, Lappi was signed by Škoda Motorsport. Lappi won his first rally with the team in 2012 Rally Poland which was part of European Rally Championship, driving a Škoda Fabia S2000.[2]

Škoda Motorsport (2013–2016)
Lappi at 2013 Rally de Portugal.

In 2013, Lappi competed full season in Asia-Pacific Rally Championship with Team MRF's Škoda Fabia S2000, and selected events in both WRC-2 and ERC with Škoda Motorsport. In APRC, Lappi won three out of six events and finished the season runner-up to his team-mate Gaurav Gill.

In ERC, Lappi competed in three tarmac rallies, winning the last of them Rallye International du Valais in Switzerland. He finished the season fifth in the final standings.

In WRC-2, he also raced in three rallies, winning Rally de Portugal where he also scored his maiden WRC-point finishing 10th overall.

Lappi won the 2014 European Rally Championship title with victories in Latvia, Northern Ireland and Switzerland.

Lappi continued competing with Škoda Motorsport driving their new challenger Fabia R5 in WRC-2 championship. He scored two wins in Poland and Finland on his way to finish the season in third place behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yuriy Protasov. Lappi also scored his career-best WRC result finishing eighth in Rally Finland.

He won the 2016 World Rally Championship-2 with the Škoda Fabia R5 after winning in Finland, Germany, Wales and Australia.[3]

Toyota (2017–2018)
Lappi during Rally Finland 2017, his first WRC victory.

Lappi was signed by Toyota Gazoo Racing to drive a Toyota Yaris WRC in the 2017 World Rally Championship.[4] On his second event with the team, the 2017 Rally d'Italia, he won his first ever stage in the WRC, along with five more stage wins. He eventually finished fourth. In just his fourth World Rally Car start, at his home event of Rally Finland, Lappi took his first WRC victory.[5] In October 2018, Toyota announced that Lappi would leave the team at the end of the 2018 championship.[6]

Citroën (2019)

He joined Citroën for the 2019 season, partnering with multiple champion Sébastien Ogier.[7] With the Citroën C3 WRC, Lappi finished the season in tenth place after a difficult year with many retirements. He scored three podiums for the French team, by finishing second in Sweden, Finland and Turkey.[8] After the season, Citroën announced they would depart from the World Rally Championship in 2020 after Ogier moved to Lappi's old team, Toyota, leaving Lappi to find a seat elsewhere.[9]

M-Sport (2020)
Lappi at 2020 Rally Sweden.

After Citroën's exit in 2019, Lappi signed for M-Sport to drive the whole season in a Ford Fiesta WRC alongside his compatriot Teemu Suninen.[10]

WRC victories
 #  Event Season Co-driver Car
1 67th Rally Finland 2017 Janne Ferm Toyota Yaris WRC

Career results

WRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2011 Printsport Citroën C2 R2 SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN
32		 GER AUS FRA ESP GBR NC 0
2012 Printsport Ford Fiesta S2000 MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN
25		 NC 0
Esapekka Lappi Citroën C2 R2 GER
Ret		 GBR FRA ITA ESP
2013 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON
Ret		 SWE MEX POR
10		 ARG GRE ITA 30th 1
Esapekka Lappi FIN
31		 GER AUS FRA ESP GBR
2015 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX ARG POR
12		 ITA
17		 POL
12		 FIN
8		 GER
42		 AUS FRA
14		 ESP
Ret		 GBR 20th 4
2016 Esapekka Lappi Škoda Fabia R5 MON
9		 12th 16
Škoda Motorsport SWE
12		 MEX ARG POR ITA
21		 POL
14		 FIN
8		 GER
7		 CHN
C		 FRA ESP GBR
11		 AUS
8
2017 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON SWE MEX FRA ARG POR
10		 ITA
4		 POL
Ret		 FIN
1		 GER
21		 ESP
Ret		 GBR
9		 AUS
6		 11th 62
2018 Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota Yaris WRC MON
7		 SWE
4		 MEX
11		 FRA
6		 ARG
8		 POR
5		 ITA
3		 FIN
Ret		 GER
3		 TUR
Ret		 GBR
3		 ESP
7		 AUS
4		 5th 126
2019 Citroën Total WRT Citroën C3 WRC MON
Ret		 SWE
2		 MEX
13		 FRA
7		 ARG
Ret		 CHL
6		 POR
Ret		 ITA
7		 FIN
2		 GER
8		 TUR
2		 GBR
27		 ESP
Ret		 AUS
C		 10th 83
2020 M-Sport Ford WRT Ford Fiesta WRC MON
4		 SWE
5		 MEX
Ret		 EST TUR GER ITA JPN 7th* 24*

* Season still in progress.

SWRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Pos. Points
2012 Printsport Ford Fiesta S2000 MON SWE POR NZL FIN
5		 GBR FRA ESP 12th 10

WRC-2 results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Pos. Points
2013 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 MON
Ret		 SWE MEX POR
1		 ARG GRE ITA 16th 25
Esapekka Lappi FIN
11		 GER AUS FRA ESP GBR
2015 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE MEX ARG POR
2		 ITA
9		 POL
1		 FIN
1		 GER
13		 AUS FRA
2		 ESP
Ret		 GBR 3rd 88
2016 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia R5 MON SWE
3		 MEX ARG POR ITA
9		 POL
3		 FIN
1		 GER
1		 CHN
C		 FRA ESP GBR
1		 AUS
1		 1st 130

ERC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pos. Points
2012 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 AUT ITA CRO BUL BEL TUR POR CZE ESP POL
1		 SUI — 39
2013 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 JÄN LIE CAN AZO COR YPR ROM ZLÍ
Ret		 POL CRO SAN
2		 VAL
1		 5th 64
2014 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Fabia S2000 JÄN LIE
1		 ACR
4		 IRE
1		 AZO YPR
Ret		 EST
5		 CZE
Ret		 CYP VAL
1		 COR
Ret		 1st 162

APRC results
Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pos. Points
2013 Team MRF Škoda Fabia S2000 NZL
1		 NCL
Ret		 AUS
1		 MYS
Ret		 JPN
Ret		 CHN
1		 2nd 117

Personal life

Lappi is gluten intolerant. The Citroën service park chef prepares gluten-free dishes for him.[11] One of his sponsors is Moilas, a Finnish producer of gluten-free foods.

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References
  1. "The perfect ending". esapekkalappi.fi. 28 September 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  2. "Lappi & Ferm make a winning debut in a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000". esapekkalappi.fi. 2 October 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  3. "Lappi claims title with Australia win". WRC. 11 October 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  4. Evans, David (13 December 2016). "Incoming Toyota launches 2017 Yaris WRC, signs Latvala and Lappi". Autosport.com. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  5. "WRC rookie Esapekka Lappi wins Rally Finland for Toyota". autosport.com. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  6. "Esapekka Lappi Joins Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT". media.citroenracing.com. Citroën Total Abu Dhabi WRT. 17 October 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  7. "Lappi to partner five-time WRC champion Ogier at Citroen in 2019". autosport.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  8. "WRC Season 2019". ewrc-results.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  9. "Citroen leaves World Rally Championship and blames Ogier's exit". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  10. "Citroen WRC exile Lappi joins M-Sport alongside Suninen and Greensmith". autosport.com. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  11. Lappi, Esapekka. "Exclusive Citroen Tour w/ Esapekka Lappi @Neste Rally Finland 2019". YouTube. Red Bull Motorsports. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Jan Kopecký		 European Rally Champion
2014		 Succeeded by
Kajetan Kajetanowicz
Preceded by
Nasser Al-Attiyah		 World Rally Championship-2 Champion
2016		 Succeeded by
Pontus Tidemand
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